Everything begins with this premise:
It is a great privilege to be a collaborator in an individual’s growth and healing, which also means being a compassionate witness to their suffering and vulnerabilities.
It requires a meeting of equals, developing mutual respect and safety, and a willingness to explore what has brought them to this threshold and what is being called in for care, resourcing, and integration.
Over the last 15+ years, I have had the privilege of working with individuals ages 18 to 80+ years old experiencing: the depths of loss and grief, adapting to neurodiversity, entering a critical crossroads of personal growth or identity, healing from trauma, coping with chronic pain, dying from cancer, processing the unique grief of losing a loved one through suicide or violence, and many other life experiences requiring competent, skilled support.
I approach this work as collaborative equals, while providing skilled professional resources. I believe in each individual’s inherent wholeness which “includes all of our wounds” (Rachel Naomi Remen), as well as her/his/their capacities to grow, heal, nurture self-care, self-compassion, meaningful connection, and resiliency.
Utilizing an integrative approach demonstrates my appreciation that our whole beings: minds, hearts, bodies, and souls are engaged in and affected by our life experiences and therefore can and must be considered in the realm of psychotherapy. I deeply value and apply a systemic/collective lens understanding that individuals are impacted by intersecting systems and cultures that need to be considered when exploring contextualization, meaning, and approach.
My own healing journey in utilizing therapy, yoga, and mindfulness practices humbly and humanely inform my offerings including the importance of respect, compassion, curiosity, and personal empowerment.
Please contact me at (802) 324-9313) for a free 15-20 minute consultation, if you are interested in exploring either integrative psychotherapy services (Vermont only) or somatic-based therapeutic services (national and international.) Services are offered in person or via telehealth. My office is located in the Channing House at Meach Cove Farms, 291 Bostwick Farm Rd. in Shelburne, Vermont. This location is an easy drive from the Burlington hub and surrounding areas.
For other providers:
I have extensive experience with integrating somatic-based modalities (therapeutic yoga and mindfulness practices, etc.) into psychotherapy to support the healing of trauma, as well as to address symptoms of anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, etc. As such, I am also available to provide individual consultation to psychotherapists who are interested in integrating these practices into psychotherapy in general or to address particular clinical treatment needs (e.g., Complex PTSD).
Professional Background and Status:
My foundational professional work has always intersected the realms of mental health, education, neurodiversity, and trauma. Historically, I have worked in residential treatment, day treatment, community services, public education, higher education, an integrative healthcare center, and most recently in private practice. I have historic training and professional experiences in various forms of assessment including: **educational, psychological, and **neuropsychological. **As these preceded graduate education, I was asked to be the graduate teaching assistant for Assessment I and Assessment II in my Master’s program. Educated and trained in clinical psychology, with additional coursework in school psychology, I practiced as a licensed school psychologist in Chittenden County after graduating with an M.A. in Clinical Psychology.
As an integrative psychotherapist, I currently practice on the roster through the Office of Professional Regulation in Vermont. (Link to be added.) As an avid learner, I am regularly reading professional content and/or attending professional trainings and workshops. Particular areas of professional development are: Internal Family Systems (IFS); Relational Life Therapy and the ongoing work of Terrence Real; Thomas Hubl’s work on healing collective trauma and the intersections of mysticism and science; Francis Weller’s lifelong work on grief, especially applied to this historic moment; and Steffi Bednerak’s work on Climate, Psychology and Change, which is also the title of a book she edited on the topic by international thought leaders.
As a yoga therapist, I obtained certification through the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) and look forward to recertification trainings in 2026. In 2009, I completed a Trauma-sensitive Yoga Certification with Dave Emerson at The Trauma Institute at JRI directed by Bessel van der Kolk. I have offered group and/or individual Trauma-sensitive yoga sessions since 2010. I have studied mindfulness with Tara Brach in workshops at Kripalu and been studying and practicing seated and movement meditation since the early 1990’s. My yoga experience began with pre-natal yoga in 1996 and became a source of regular study and practice by 1999. I obtained my 200-hr Yoga Teacher Training Certificate in 2008 with Emily Garrett (presently: Laughing River Yoga) and Jill Satterfield (presently: affiliate teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.)
See trainings, workshops, and certification listings below client feedback.
Client feedback and reflections:
Psychotherapy Clients:
“Words cannot describe my gratitude for the impact your guidance and our work together has had and continues to have on my daily life and frame of mind. Thank you for teaching me about presence, essential goodness and that I have choices in my relationship to life’s events, woes, and joys. Also thanks for the wisdom of looking for delights. Thank you.”
“I want to thank you for moving through so much with me…Helping me to find so much inner strength, compassion and love. I feel ready for the next chapter.”
“It struck me today how much happier and at ease I am in my mind. So much of that new found peace is rooted in my time spent with you. Thank you for your empathy, open-hearted listening, and wisdom.”
“Deb is one of the most intuitive people that I know. With her caring way, I’ve been able to reconnect with who I am on all levels: emotional, mental, physical and spiritual, and to understand myself to an even greater degree, which has brought me deep personal joy. She is a true gift for anyone who chooses to work with her.”
“Deb is skilled at holding space for healing work to unfold. Through my work with Deb, I learned the depths of the wisdom of my body in a new and profound way. It was particularly helpful that she incorporated mindfulness techniques and gentle movement during our (psychotherapy) sessions. Through a relationship of trust and respect, she supported me to make decisions and guided me through fear, into darkness, and back to light with wisdom and immense kindness.”
Therapeutic Yoga and Mindfulness Client:
“I worked with Deb weekly, for 2 years, learning yoga and specifically trauma-informed yoga during a most painful period of my life. I had always dabbled in the ‘mind/body connection,’ yet was trained as a traditional therapist years ago…..yet….it wasn’t enough. Learning yoga with a trauma-informed ‘coach’…..taught me to truly appreciate the stillness and ‘knowing’ of my body to bring me back to the present moment and to ease my anxiety, fears, losses and body image issues. I so appreciated Deb’s insight, her wisdom, her ability to hear me, her empathy…over the two years. I had such body image issues and would not set foot in a yoga class before I met her and am now free to live in my body. Deb taught me so much more than yoga. And I am so, so grateful.”
Yoga class participant:
Thank you so much for leading me (and lots of others) in such gentle, introspective and supportive yoga classes. The Monday classes you’ve led have helped me deepen my own practice of weaving together the threads of my Buddhist mindfulness and lovingkindness practices with a steady and soothing asana practice. Your way of sharing these practices have inspired me on my own journey of exploring what sort of yoga teacher I might be as well. Thank you so much.
Internal Family Systems, IFS-informed:
Clinical supervision at Vermont Center for Integrative Therapy (VTCIT), 2010 to 2018
Ceci Sykes Training: Internal Family Systems and Addiction (VTCIT)
Amy Weintraub and Angela Huebner, Internal Family Systems Therapy Meets LifeForce Yoga: A Week of Healing and Learning, Cape Cod Institute, Summer of 2022, weeklong intensive
Dick Schwartz, online, The Self-Led Helper, Embodying The Healing Wisdom, two days online (12 hours)
Dick Schwartz, Internal Family Systems Workshop, Cape Cod Institute, Summer of 2023, weeklong intensive
Dick Schwartz and Thomas Hubl, Connect. Restore. Reclaim. Online, six sessions (12 hours)
Dick Schwartz and Gabor Mate, Embracing All of You, Sounds True with Tami Simon, Spring of 2024, six sessions
Dick Schwart and Experts* in Applying IFS to Complex Clinical Issues, Fall of 2025, four, two-hour sessions. *Cece Sykes (IFS applied to addiction treatment; Melissa Mose, IFS applied to the treatment of OCD, Martha Sweezey, IFS in working with shame, etc.
Francis Weller & Associates, a 10-month, weekly program (2023 – 2024)
Collective online teachings by Francis Weller and four associates including: discussions on Jungian-informed depth work, grief and loss, climate change disruption and grief, and soul work.
Yoga, Yoga Therapeutics, and Mindfulness:
Mindfulness and meditation practice, self-study for approximately 34 years and workshops (Tara Brach: Radical Acceptance and True Refuge).
Individual yoga practice for 26 years
200-hr Yoga Teacher Training, Emily Garrett and Jill Satterfield (2008)
40-hr Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Teaching Training, Dave Emerson @ The Trauma Center; Bessel van der Kolk, Executive Director (in 2009)
Developed and taught trauma-informed yoga for Laughing River Yoga’s and Evolution Yoga’s Yoga Teacher Training Programs in Burlington, Vermont
Anxiety: It’s Not All In Your Mind with Jill Satterfield, 2020, daylong workshop
Offering Trauma-sensitive Yoga or trauma-informed group and/or individual therapeutic yoga since 2010 to present.
Certified International Association of Yoga Therapists, 2017 to present.
